Foals, Colts and Fillies
by HecateA
Summary: Blackjack and Skippy have been a couple for a year, and they're about to be even closer for nine months, with their owners in a frenzy... Post war with Gaia. Oneshot dedicated to I am Reyna daughter of Bellona.


**Hey guys! Short oneshot. Proudly the first one in 'Blackjack' and 'Romance'. I made Skippy a girl in this one. It wasn't ever specified. Shh. Also please remember that living on the internet does not give many opportunities of learning about horse babies so please remember that. **

**Dedication: I am Reyna daughter of Bellona, because this 'fic came out of a PM conversation. I'm late, but I _did _get it written down!**

******Sub-dedication: Alex Day. I was listening to his music by writing. I'm sure he'd be thrilled to know that his music is what the birth of baby horses are written to.**

* * *

**Foals, Colts and Fillies**

Reyna looked at Skippy.

Percy looked at Blackjack.

_What? They don't make condoms for horse, _Blackjack explained.

Reyna let go of Percy's hand in disgust and took a five step walk away from them. She couldn't hear the horses' voices anymore.

"Really?" She asked. "Really?"

_You leave two horses who fell in love while their owners were saving the world alone at Camp alone for a week; this is what happens._ Skippy tried to defend.

That had been last summer. Percy remembered that; Skippy had been shot by an archer in the power struggle between Reyna and Octavian, Blackjack had been hurt as the Greeks flew down to help her out… really, it was Reyna who'd made the decision to leave them alone then, and she'd accepted to harbour all the Greek Pegasi in Rome when the stables at camp were being rebuilt two months ago; so this was her fault.

Reyna shot Percy a dark, dark look even if she hadn't heard that. As if it was his fault.

"Hey, why are you giving me that look? I'm not the one who got your horse pregnant." He defended.

"Good Romulus, I hope not." Jason said. He and Annabeth were standing in the Roman Stables' door.

"Considering context is everything, what exactly were you two talking about?" Annabeth asked.

Reyna shot Percy the darkest of looks (which was worse than her usual dark, dark look).

"Nothing," he said.

Annabeth looked at Blackjack and Skippy side by side.

"Do _not _tell me that…" She said.

Jason's face screamed that he didn't get it. In his cousin's defence, Percy didn't get it either.

_Take the girl's hand again I need to talk to her._

"Blackjack, her boyfriend's here." Percy said. "And it's Reyna, by the way. Didn't Skippy tell you that? Oh yeah, you were too _busy." _

_Don't go there Boss. You go there, I go there._

Percy sighed.

But he wasn't going there.

_Ask the girl why she's mad. _Blackjack requested.

"Why are you mad?" Percy said. Reyna scowled at him. "This is a direct question from Blackjack, not me!"

"I'm not… mad," Reyna said.

"Could've fooled me," Jason said. "What's going on, again?"

Reyna whacked him in the shoulder. "I'm not mad, okay? I'm just… annoyed."

Skippy bowed her head and nervously shuffled her feet.

Annabeth took Jason by the shoulder. "Come on Saving Grace. It's quite possible nobody has ever explained this to you."

"Oh Styx," Jason said, _finally _getting it, but still getting dragged. Suddenly Percy was sure that there was a place he'd like to be even less then he liked being the translator in a conversation with Reyna and her pregnant Pegasi.

_You're not mad? _Skippy asked. _What does annoyed mean? That's what she said before she locked Octavian in the dungeons and took control of his cohort during the war. Uh oh._

"Skippy's concerned about your annoyance," Percy translated. "Why are you annoyed?"

Reyna just looked at her Pegasi. "I didn't even know you and Blackjack were an item, girl."

_You didn't? _Skippy said.

Percy sighed. "Skippy says: You didn't? Percy says: really Reyna, you didn't? Good Lord, even Lupa knew that."

Reyna replied, "No. I don't _speak _horse. And I… I didn't notice anything; I've been way too busy lately. I'm sorry, Skip."

Percy took Reyna's hand and she heard Skippy's _'for nothing, you're the best rider I could have'_ for herself.

"We're happy if you guys are happy," Percy said. "Well, I am. Does this make me, like, official grandfather of Baby-Blackjack-Skippy?"

Reyna closed her eyes and swore under her breath.

_Sure boss, you can be whatever! _Blackjack said. _Just don't be mad. _

* * *

So life went on at Camp. Blackjack had replaced Skippy as Reyna's Pegasi of Duty since (none of them were sure but) it did not sound like a good idea to fly on a pregnant horse. Skippy, of course, hated this arrangement, but it happened.

Then Percy had to explain to his mother that he was spending the summer mostly at Camp Jupiter (again) because Blackjack had knocked up his girlfriend- which confused her, but she went with it as she usually did.

And then they had to quiz Chiron about pregnant Pegasi which was embarrassing, possibly because he was half-horse.

"I'm no expert," Chiron said. "This hasn't happened at Camp that often and if so, the children of Poseidon always took care of it."

"Uh oh," Percy said. "That's me."

"Don't worry, Percy," Chiron said. "Pegasi are animals. They're used to dealing on their own with these things."

"Well that makes it somewhat better," Reyna had said.

"Come on Gramps and Gran," Leo said. "Let's go tell the other aunts and uncles about this."

Reyna punched Leo in the arm without even hesitating or looking in this direction.

"What makes you think you're an uncle?" Percy asked.

"Please Jackson; I was born with Uncle Leo swag."

* * *

So according to Annabeth's math and some kind of instinct built into Skippy; nine months was going to be the gestational time. This was a new word for half of the parties involved- so Percy, Reyna, their significant others, and everyone else who'd been on the Argo II.

Percy was expected to be some kind of witch doctor as far as horses went.

Whenever this happened it went a bit like this:

Percy: How are you today?

Skippy: _Good._

Percy: Cool.

Except he did perform some of the weirdest Google searches of all time, and now kind-of knew what he was doing. Once he started giving Skippy check-ups he found that it came naturally, actually.

"Well there you go," Annabeth said. "You'll just become a vet. I'll tell people that my boyfriend is in medical school."

"I don't want to go to college, Wise Girl." Percy said.

"Oh but c'mon, you might even be able to treat Leo," Piper said hopefully. "I haven't found anybody for that yet."

* * *

The summer flew by and school started as it tended to do, which made everything more complicated. For Percy, at least. For Reyna, of course, the start of summer meant that the flood of new half-bloods would become thinner and _her _life got more complicated.

But for Percy, it meant that he had to juggle his job as a lifeguard, the homework overload of a senior, finish his volunteering hours so that he could get the diploma (the catch: saving the world did _not count)_, and find time to use the teleportation device to and from Camp Jupiter the horses had given them to see his horse.

By the end of September he was pretty sure he had the hang of it. He usually found the time (and the drive) to stop at camp by the weekend- which Annabeth wasn't too thrilled about since the weekends were their time, but she respected the fact that Percy was taking care of this baby horse thing.

"You're getting so responsible," Annabeth said. "You'd be _great _at college."

"Gods Annabeth, I don't _want _to get more school." Percy said rolling his eyes.

* * *

Skippy started showing on either side at the start of six months (of course Annabeth was counting because nobody else did). He counted on drives from his mom, begging, and the gods' camp-to-camp teleportation device to check up on both Skippy and Blackjack, whom he was starting to miss.

_"You're intense, Kip," _Blackjack told Skippy once. _"I've only been the girl- I mean, Reyna's- minion for a few months and I'm exhausted." _

_"Well I've been gestating your spawn for a few months and _I'm _exhausted, so obviously one of us is exaggerating and it isn't me." _Skippy replied.

Percy took Blackjack out for a ride and explained to him about 'hormones'.

* * *

As October ended Percy was doing this thing called the Pap test which required trying to feel the baby inside of Skippy. She didn't like it, but Percy swore to her that he didn't enjoy it any more than she did, so they were even.

He thought he'd screwed up at first but no, he was right.

"Umm… guys?" He said.

"What's wrong?" Hazel asked.

"It might just be me…" he said slowly. "But I think that there are two…"

"_Two?" _Blackjack said. "_Like babies?" _

"I don't think he's referring to adult lawyers carrying briefcases," Reyna said.

"_Inside?" _Skippy said, dead shocked.

"They're not outside," Percy said.

"_I just thought the foal was an ADHD kicker," _Skippy said. "_Oh my gosh, there are _two?"

Percy's stomach was sinking.

* * *

He was using the computer in the Principia's basement. It turned out that the dungeon room downstairs was half dungeon and half computer room.

It was underground and padded with bronze and gold; no way would a monster track a signal from there down. It was there just in case a praetor needed to know where the legion had to be sent- although apparently they'd been using Facebook to keep tabs on possible recruits ("Like total creepers," as Leo put it).

Percy clicked on a website that he liked reading off of, which contrary to popular belief it was not , and clicked on a page he was sure that he'd already seen.

_Horses carry one baby per pregnancy. The reason for this is the placentae of the mare, which is not big enough to nourish both babies. If multiples are conceived, generally if the pregnancy is detected early enough the twins are aborted. There have been cases where mares have carried multiples until the end of term, but the twins do not usually survive because they are nearly always underdeveloped. It is not uncommon for one foal, or even both, to survive. _

He sunk down in his chair.

He'd never heard of Pegasi twins, either.

* * *

"You know what all this has made me wonder?" Frank asked Leo as they walked back to the fort.

"How babies are made?" Leo said.

"No!" Frank protested.

"Your grandmother gave you the talk?" Leo asked. Frank slapped him in the arm.

"What's the politically correct term for a baby Pegasus? Colts? Chicks? Pegaslings? Is it just 'baby Pegaslet'? Minipegs?"

Leo froze and starred off into space.

"Pegaslets." Leo said after a while. "Definitely Pegaslets."

And they started walking back towards the fort.

* * *

"_Boss, we have a problem." _Blackjack said.

Shoot.

He called Reyna over and took her hand (which never stopped feeling awkward) so she had in on the conversation.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"_We don't know how to name stuff." _Skippy said.

"What?"

_"Pegasi don't pick names or name each other. Half-bloods do it for us. Wild ones just do without names." _Blackjack said.

_"You've helped a lot already, but please?" _Skippy begged. She was starting to look sad and sound panicky and it was already a known fact that she was hormonal.

"Okay, we'll do it," Reyna said stroking her head. "It's okay, calm down Skip."

Blackjack tried to cuddle but she scurried away as if to say _your fault. _

Blackjack was getting used to it. But he kept trying.

Part of the world's collective soul found that adorable.

* * *

Once they'd settled the horses back down Reyna stared at Percy and Percy stared right back.

"I don't know what to name baby flying horse twins," she said.

"Well how am _I _supposed to know?" He asked. "You're the smart one."

"You're the horse doctor," she said.

After a second she added, "We need help."

* * *

"I need cute baby names," Reyna said. "For horses. Swallow that comment Valdez."

He contemplated the horizon for a second. "What about Leo Jr?"

"No," Reyna said.

"Ah. Sir Grande?" Leo suggested.

"Neither," Reyna said.

"Lord of the Nachos?"

"I am not calling across a pasture for 'Lord of the Nachos' in a million years," Reyna said.

"Señor Leo."

"Are you planning on becoming helpful soon?"

"Yeah, yeah, just let me warm up…" Leo said. He thought for a second. He snapped his fingers and looked up in awe. "I got it!" He said.

"Really?" Reyna asked.

"Yeah!" Leo said. "Conquistador Taco!"

Reyna just walked away.

"It means Conqueror Taco!" He yelled after her. "I think that's cool!"

"You think a lot of stupid things!" Reyna yelled back at him, over her shoulder.

* * *

"Graffiti and Scribble," Hazel said.

"Too human, Blackjack and Skippy won't get it." Percy said.

"Stella and Ella Ola?" Hazel asked.

"That's too confusing. We'd have to say 'Ella harpy' or 'Ella horse'." Percy said.

"That's what the 'Ola' is for!" Hazel said. She went back to thinking. "Okay, what about Itsy and Bitsy?"

"Annabeth's scared of spiders."

"Liz and Fiz?"

"Nope."

"What about Nick and Nack?" Hazel said. "That'd be really cute!"

"They're baby horses," Frank said. "They're worth more than nicknacks."

"Okay, fine," Hazel said. "I've been trying for twenty minutes. What do you think?"

Frank looked brain dead for the next ten minutes.

* * *

"Iccarus flew in Greek myths," Annabeth told Reyna.

"But he crashed and died and burned." Reyna said.

Percy got really uncomfortable when he thought back to that article he'd read.

"Plus they're twins," he mentioned.

"Harvard and Yale?" She suggested.

"I am not going down that path." Percy said walking away. "Not the path where you try and talk me into college."

* * *

"How the heck am I supposed to know?" Jason asked upon hearing the question.

"Well how the heck am _I _supposed to know?" Percy said back.

* * *

Half of Percy's class was there, so he walked up to the front of the class and whistled. Everyone looked.

"I swear, there is a good reason why I'm asking this question- but what would you guys name baby horses?" Percy asked.

"Your mom!" Someone yelled back.

* * *

"Hey, Ella," Percy said, climbing up into the Big House attic that had been transformed from dusty mummy home to harpy habitat for her. The Athena cabin had been keeping a fairly good supply of books coming in and out for her.

"Hello. Hello Percy. _Gutten Tag_, Perseus. German is a West Germanic language related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 100 – 108 million native speakers, German is one of the world's-"

"Yipee," Percy said. "I need your help. What would you name baby horses?"

"Bucephalus, meaning "ox-head", 355 BC – June 326 BC) was Alexander the Great's horse and one of the most famous actual horses of antiquity. Ancient accounts state that Bucephalus-"

"Say what?" Percy asked.

"Say, base form, Said, past simple, Said, past participle…"

"Okay, thanks Ella," Percy said.

Tyson hadn't been kissing when he'd said that Ella was in one of her extremely-not-good-to-have-a-conversation-with mood.

* * *

"El Slayer," Leo said.

"No, Leo," Reyna said. He was following her to the principia, why was he following her? Oh, gods…

"Leo the II," he said. "Please, Reyna? I've always wanted to be Leo Sr. or Leo the First…"

"Well it's not going to be through my Pegasi's child," Reyna said. "Skippy would not approve, and as a matter of fact nor do I."

"Okay, well this one's gold: Burrito. But you call one Burri and one Ito since they're twins."

"That's not gold. That's not even coal."

* * *

"Vanilla and Chocolate," Percy brainstormed.

"No," Reyna said.

"PB and J?"

"No."

"Peaches and Cream?"

"No," she shot him down again.

"Chocolate and Chip?"

"Neither."

"Caesar and Salad?"

They did this every weekend. Sat down with Blackjack and Skippy and brainstormed names. The two horses never had any opinion but they liked hearing. Plus Blackjack _finally _got to cuddle because Skippy was too busy listening to push him away.

"Salad the horse? No." Reyna said. "Ceasar and Augustus could work."

"Too Roman," Percy said. "They're half Greek, remember?"

"Fine, fine." Reyna said. "What about Hugo and Viva?"

"Where did that come from?"

"I knew two domesticated leopards named that."

"Right, because you're freaking weird." Percy said. "No. What about Coke and Pepsi?"

"Yes, let's name these majestic creatures after carbonated and sugary water." Reyna said.

"Kit and Kat?"

"Not if one of them is a boy."

"Nut and Meg?"

"Ditto."

"Blue and Berry?"

"No."

"Coffee and Mocha."

"And?"

"Gumball and Gumdrop."

"No."

"Fudge and Sundae?"

Skippy neighed.

"_Umm, boss? Why are all your names about food? Skippy's getting kind of nervous. Are you planning on eating our babies?"_

* * *

"Iolanthe means Violet in Greek," Annabeth suggested.

This was what was called 'diplomacy hour'. Lupa and Mr D (though Mr D couldn't care less so really, as usual, it was Chiron who'd done the 'doing' part) were enforcing it. One a month Jason, Reyna, Percy and Annabeth –as ambassadors of both camps and both genders- met up at one camp or another and went through lists of complaints or requests such as "The Greeks need to stop teleporting to Rome just to get our food", "We want Capture-the-Flag too!", "I feel insulted that the paintballs were all purple last night", "The Romans need to stop popping up at camp just when it's time for food".

They'd gotten off topic again.

"Too Greek," Reyna said. "What if they end up staying here?"

"Have you two even decided which horse belongs to whom?" She asked.

Nobody answered.

"It's been a little dramatic," Reyna said. "Priorities weren't really on that."

"They're born domestic," Annabeth explained. "The horses in the stables mostly belong to a certain half-blood at camp. For example Blackjack is Percy's Pegasi but he flies for everybody who needs a lift."

"Policy's even stricter at Camp," Jason said. "Skippy technically belongs to the praetors or else she wouldn't be around, but she likes Reyna better and vice-versa."

"I would too if I were her," Percy said.

"There are two colts," Reyna said. Percy shuffled uncomfortably. "And two of us."

"You can't just separate Blackjack and Skippy once the twins are born," Percy said.

"Neither of them would take kindly, I agree." Reyna said. "So what do you suggest?"

Percy turned his head to Annabeth who sighed once she realised her plan making skills were being called up once again. She was secretly really excited.

"Skippy wouldn't like being stripped of her job as Pegasi of the Praetors. She'd think that she'd done something wrong and it'd hurt. Blackjack won't want to be a Roman war horse though. He's a flyer, it's just who he is."

"This is why two camps is complicated," Jason said.

"That box would be five times as full if there was only one camp," Annabeth pointed to the comment/suggestion/mainly complaint box.

"I'm not suggesting it," Jason protested, hands up.

"Doesn't matter." Annabeth said. "We don't listen to you."

Percy squeezed her hand under the table to stop her from saying 'just kidding'.

"Let's just say that whichever looks more like Blackjack belongs to me, and whoever looks more like Skippy belongs to you, but technically they both belong to Blackjack and Skippy themselves," Percy said.

"I find that acceptable," Reyna said scribbling on a form to fill. "We'll figure it out later," Reyna said. "But right now we have work to do."

* * *

"Oreo and Fudge-O," Hazel said. "Like… the cookies?" She added when nobody was nearly as excited as she was.

"Haze, these Pegasi are going to grow up." Reyna said. "And if they end up staying in New Rome, they'll be the shame of the stables if they're named after cookies. One can't ride Oreo into battle."

"That totally fails the 'Oreo the Pegasus; attorney in law' test." Frank said.

* * *

Okay, so Skippy was getting kind of big now. It became of extreme importance to keep Leo away from her because with the amount of ADHD that that boy had, hippopotamus mutation jokes just slipped out on their own.

Percy was losing increasingly more sleep about it.

One such night his mother came to talk to him. She sat down on the edge of his bed and he sat up.

"You're not even changed, Percy, you just jumped into bed when you heard me coming." Sally said. "It's late, sweetheart. Why are you still up? What's going on?"

Percy knew that his mom was immediately thinking that the gods had a second round of post-Titan enemies.

"Mom, what if you knew something that could hurt someone…" Percy said.

"Oh thank gods, this is teenage drama not apocalypse material," his mom said relieved. "I'm sorry Percy, yes?"

"What if you knew something that was really bad news? But only you knew about it? But if you told somebody it might really hurt but it might really not?"

Considering his vague and loose terms, Percy didn't expect an answer from his mom.

"Honesty's the best policy," she said. "Is it something urgent?"

"Sort-of," Percy said.

"Do you really need it off your chest?" She asked.

"Oh yeah," Percy breathed out.

"Is this about the fact that Skippy's going to have twins?"

Percy's jaw dropped. "How in the world do you know this stuff?"

"Percy, sweetheart, your father created horses. Don't you think I asked a _lot _of questions?" She asked him.

"I guess," Percy said.

"Look, are you going to be the one giving birth to two creatures?" She asked.

"No…" Percy asked wondering if this was a trick question.

"Are you the parent of said two creatures?"

"No!" He said. "Mom, why are you asking me these questions and freaking me out?"

"Because," Sally said. "It's not your choice. Blackjack may be your Pegasus, but he's not your pet. He has his own mind and, no pun intended, his own wings. Skippy… I'm supposing that if she and Reyna work well together she's a very independent mare and she's level-headed."

"You're telling me it's their choice," Percy said. "Which is true."

"Loads of people didn't want me to have you when I was pregnant," mom said. "But it wasn't their choice, and it never will be and it never was. And in the end it's working out perfectly. You can't make people's choices for them, and you can't doubt the ones they make."

"Okay," Percy said. "I just… I don't want to tell them."

"Well, they probably didn't want to tell you about the babies in the first place," Mom said. "But they love you, so you're onboard. You love them back, right?"

"Right," Percy said.

"So part of you deep down knows that even if you don't want to, you have to," she said. "You're good at making these choices, Percy. But whichever one you'll make, it won't change the way things go okay? Not this time," she said with a smile, brushing his bangs from his forehead.

He was expecting a comment about getting a haircut when Paul walked by his room sleepily, saying something around the lines of 'Percy, lights out in ten…' and then he froze when he saw his wife sitting on the end of his bed, giving him advice. His face went from 'I miss my pillow I want my pillow come to me pillow' to 'Uh oh'.

"Whoa. Any upcoming apocalypse I should know about?" He asked.

"Only a little one," Percy said.

Paul walked away before anything else could be said. His mother shot Percy a look.

"You're bad," she said. "I'm going to go reassure him. How about I drive you to Camp tomorrow and you can go spend the weekend at the camps? I'll even pick up Annabeth."

"Thanks Mom," Percy said. "You're the best. At everything."

She smiled, and the corners of her eyes crinkled. "Get some sleep, sweetheart."

* * *

So that's what happened the next day.

Percy IM'ed Jason when he and Annabeth were in the car. He got scolded for not doing it before, but better late than never. The only reason anybody cared was because Annabeth liked cuddling on long drives.

Jason was slightly surprised but said 'sure. It's getting lonely at the praetor's table without you guys', so they knew they were in. They dropped by their cabins, said that they were spending a night at Camp J but spending all the rest of the weekend there, grabbed Leo and Piper who wanted to come catch up with the others, and off they went.

* * *

Leo was having a very typical Roman all-you-can-eat taco supper the way he always did when he was around Camp J, when the most beautiful idea took a wonderful stroll into his magnificent (if he did say so himself) head.

He slammed his hand down on the table. "By golly, I got it!"

He raced to the praetor's tables.

"You can name the baby horses Lettuce and Tomato!" Leo said.

"Care to elaborate on that?" Reyna asked. Percy leaned into Jason 'Try to figure out who he was just sitting with. I'm betting Dakota.'

"Look, look," Leo said. "Obviously this whole baby thing is going to happen again. So every child can be named after a taco topping. And if Blackjack and Skippy are_ really_ at it; you can move on to burritos."

Reyna just starred.

"You know what Leo, we actually found two great names," she said. "Yeah, so, you don't have to suggest anything."

"Ever again." Percy said.

"No, really." Reyna said.

"I think they're trying to get rid of me," Leo said when he went to sit back down next to Dakota and Hank and Bobby.

* * *

Percy knocked before going into stables. Skippy was lying on the ground and Blackjack was standing over her. Horses, and Pegasi, were prey animals in the wild so they just instinctively did not like laying down unless they had someone with them.

Blackjack was always around.

Skippy seemed to trust him no to let her get attacked, so that was good.

"Hey guys," Percy said. He pulled up a bucket and sat down in front of Skippy and Reyna scrambled to put a hand on his shoulder to hear him. "We need to talk."

_"Reyna what's this about?" _Skippy asked.

"Don't ask me, girl." Reyna said, shaking her head.

"_I thought I got to call you that," _Blackjack complained to her.

Percy took a deep breath. "Okay. Skippy, you're going to have twins right?"

"_Yeah, I feel them both kicking now. It's cute," _she answered.

Percy just nearly said 'Congratulations!' and walked out.

Percy took a deep breath. "Look, there's a part inside a mare called a placenta. And for equine animals, the baby sort-of sticks itself to the placenta and that's how they get their food and oxygen," Percy said. "Did you know that?"

_"How would I know that?"_

_"_Why _would she know that?" _Blackjack asked.

Percy kept talking. "But the thing is that when there are two babies, the placenta isn't big enough for both of them to get what they need. So what happens a lot of the time is that one of the babies or both of them are born sick. Or weak. Or both. And he dies."

Horses couldn't make faces like humans but the way the inside of Percy's mind was empty, he knew how hard that'd hit Skippy and Blackjack.

He dropped his head in his hands, and the hand Reyna had been keeping on his shoulder gave them a squeeze.

"What usually happens," Percy said, "-But I'm not saying that this'll happen- is that one baby gets aborted or killed by whoever's in charge, or even just nature, so that the other baby can live."

"_No," _Skippy said. "_That can't happen."_

"I know," Percy said. "Sometimes it sorts itself out and one baby disappears before he's born, but that hasn't happened with you, and it's too late now. I just… you guys needed to know that this might happen."

"_No," _Skippy said fiercely enough for a Pegasus. "_I will not let these babies die."_

"Skip…" Reyna said as Blackjack tried to talk to her, saying something reassuring.

_"No. I've always had a rider who never let bad things happen and now it's my turn. Neither one of our foals is going to die, Black."_

Reyna didn't say anything but her eyes looked tired.

"I'll see you two later, before I head back to New York." Percy said getting up from the bucket, pushing Reyna's hand off his shoulder. He looked over his shoulder and saw Blackjack nosing at Skippy's ear in affection before he walked out.

* * *

Outside Reyna caught up to him.

"You didn't tell me?" She said. Percy turned around and faced her. She looked furious. "More importantly, you didn't tell _them?" _

"Well I did, now didn't I?"

"You know what I mean!" Reyna said. "Why did you keep that to yourself? It's not like Skip or Blackjack could've found out! How crushed would you think they'd have been if they'd found that out while she was giving birth and one of the foals came out with crushed lungs? Or even worst- _dead?"_

Percy didn't say anything, shocked at first. Then he got mad. "Hey, why is it always up to me to figure this stuff out anyways? Didn't they look crushed now? Do you think it was easy to go do tell them, Reyna?"

"It's not all up to you; it's just that you have a clue!" Reyna said. "And for your information, I'm still the one taking care of them while they're here."

"You didn't even know they were an item!"

"Did you?" Reyna snapped back. Percy had obviously found a sour spot.

"I'm sorry." Reyna said dryly the second after. "I shouldn't have snapped. Just… Like I said. We didn't know this might happen, and it's a big pill to take."

"Yeah, well I've been stuck sleeping rubbish." He said.

"You didn't have to keep it a secret."

"I didn't want to raise a false alarm. But it… I've got a bad feeling…"

"Hey," Reyna said touching his arm. "There are still three more months to go. It'll do no good to just worry. We'll see then."

"Right," Percy said.

"I'm sorry I yelled," Reyna said. She'd gotten into a habit of apologising more since the war with Gaia. Percy wasn't complaining. She was one of his best friends, and he'd love her (_like a friend)_ either way, but sometimes it was nice not to be holding your breath around her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell for so long," he said.

They walked back to the villas.

"So what exactly are the odds that everything goes smoothly?" Reyna asked.

"Well, they're already at a 1 in 1000 because Skippy got twins instead of one," Percy said. "I don't know."

"We'll see," Reyna said.

* * *

Leo was exchanging drachmas with Dakota.

"What are you doing?" Percy asked.

"I'm running a poll," Leo explained.

"About what?" Percy asked.

"Whether the horse babies are going to be a girl or a boy." Leo produced a list. "See, Hazel thinks it'll be two baby girls, Frank looked at me blankly because that's his way of coping with the whole concept of horse birth, Reyna punched me when I asked, Piper said one of each, Annabeth says that she was going to look it up before getting back to me…"

"And what do you say it is?" Percy asked.

"Two dudes," Leo said. "So between you and me, if there's anything you can do about it…"

Percy smacked him in the back of the head.

* * *

Around December things started getting a little wacko. Skippy was freaking out, Blackjack was freaking out, this made Reyna agitated, and Percy totally panicky…

He spent the Christmas holidays at Camp Half-Blood ("and didn't get kidnapped this time", as Annabeth noted. "I'm so proud of you… college?"). He occasionally went to Camp Jupiter and he brought buckets of snow because Blackjack yapped about it and Skippy got curious. Basically he was the lunatic running to the stables with bucket, trying to beat the melting speed of snow under the hot Californian sun that _never died. _

Since he and Annabeth were technically the officials for Camp Jupiter, while they were there they bunked with Jason and Reyna in their villas.

He was hit by world's oddest dream on Boxing Day, when all the Greeks had come to Rome and build forts out of boxes in the middle of the street and around buildings. In their defence, the day before all the Romans had showed up at camp out of the blue. Anyways, then they'd spent the night and eaten the Romans' food just to rub the holiday spirit in.

He was in his dad's palace, and Poseidon had just given an order to a squadron of dolphins.

"Oh, Percy, there you are," he said. "Having nice holidays? Where are you spending them?"

"Here and there," Percy said. "And apparently underwater. Why am I here?"

"How's Blackjack coping?" Poseidon asked.

"I don't know, he's freaking out."

"Of course he is. And Skippy?"

"She's freaking out." Percy said. "She… she doesn't want the twins to die. Wait, how do you know about all this?"

"Because everyone does," Poseidon said. "Perseus Jackson's Pegasus and the steed of the Roman praetor Reyna Jones. Bellona talked you two out of the tabloids… five times, I think?"

"Lovely," Percy said. "You know I love this place dad, but why am I here?" It always made Percy nervous to see his dad through dreams because usually that meant that there was something he was going to have to do.

"Because," Poseidon said, "You have to know that when the time is right, you'll know exactly what to do."

"You're giving me vague advice again," Percy said. "Is there an upcoming apocalypse?"

"I mean, when the twins will be born," Poseidon said.

"Oh." Percy said. "Like… know what to do?"

"Yes," Poseidon said. "Equestrian care is right up your alley, Percy."

That's when Jason kicked him in the ribs and he woke up.

"Owe," he said offended.

"You were talking in your sleep going 'giving birth, giving birth, giving birth'," Jason said. "I was freaking worried."

Percy quickly clarified for his cousin.

"So," Jason said lying back down in his bed. "Let me get this straight. Powers of children of Poseidon: controlling water, communicating with sea life, creating hurricanes, breathing underwater, midwife."

Percy punched him in the arm. "Don't you dare tell the cousins."

* * *

It was the day before New Year's Eve when Jason shook him awake.

"Jackson, you have to get your butt out of bed." He said.

"Shut up, Grace," he replied his face smashed into his pillow.

"_Boss, he's got a point."_

He looked up. He was in the usual cot in Jason's room, the only place in the villa that wasn't either ridiculously cold or ridiculously hot. This left them both vulnerable of each other's midnight pranks, but it was better than death by boiling or freezing.

Blackjack's head was in the window.

"Blackjack?" He asked.

"_Boss, you've got to come now. The girl's already there, you've got to move. You've got to come. Now. Now, boss, now. I've gotta be back there in twenty seconds. Now, boss, you can _so _move faster than that." _

"Why?" Percy asked. "What's going on?"

"_Skippy's having the babies."_

Percy swung his legs out of bed. "She's a month early!"

"_That's what I tried telling her. It ended poorly."_

Percy swore and pulled on shoes and filled in Jason.

"What? But it's December." He frowned.

"Geez genius," Percy said. "Thanks for noticing."

At the stable door Percy spotted Annabeth, who must've come with Reyna. She gave him a smile and a kiss before he went in.

The stable wasn't as chaotic as Percy had imagined. Reyna had gotten Skippy to lie down and was stroking her snout, being as calming as she could be. This did not stop Skippy from internally panicking. Reyna was wearing high boots, black sweatpants and a bulky purple hoody, obviously woken up in the middle of the night too. She looked relieved to see Percy come in.

Blackjack trotted in after him.

"Blackjack, go over there, give her some room," Percy said. "Reyna, go get the kit from your villa, or make Grace do it, or something. Scissors, gloves, towels, gauze…"

"I know," Reyna said before rushing out.

"Hey Skippy, how's it going?" Percy said.

To which she didn't respond kindly.

The stable door slammed behind Reyna.

Most horses managed to give birth naturally. But since twins were on their way, Percy had no idea what kind of schist was going to go down. Also Skippy was not wild like Blackjack or other Pegasi; all of her ancestry had been domestic military horses in Camp.

Skippy was shifting between lying on her side to sitting up.

Reyna came by and dropped the plastic bin that'd been ready for a week next to Percy and popped off the lid, shoving it at arm's reach but out of the way. Percy put on gloves.

The first baby appeared making Percy freak out like _holly smokes this is not some elaborate prank._

He was front hooves first- this was normal. They were covered by something rubbery- this was also normal. Normal baby horses were inside sacks when they were born. Not this one. Percy wasn't sure if it was normal for Pegasi or not. Once the knees were out, Percy waited for the nose tip and the head, but nothing happened.

"It's okay, Skippy, you're doing good." Percy said. "Keep going."

Blackjack said something encouraging but was told to shut up.

Twenty minutes later, they still weren't getting anywhere. Percy asked Skippy to get up and walked around for a bit to try and reposition the foal before pushing again. It still didn't do anything for them.

He explained to Skippy (and Reyna) what he was doing (Blackjack trusted him. This was a bad ratio) and pulled on the front legs of the foal. Yeah, it sounded harsh, but he knew (apparently) what he was doing and he'd read some.

The baby horse's head burst out. Percy could feel Blackjack be half-terrified and half excited, Reyna just totally shocked and Skippy mostly terrified and also exhausted. Baby 2 hadn't even been seen yet.

Skippy panted for a bit before she pushed again, during which Percy grabbed a towel, right before baby number one came out, without any help even if the hips were the widest part of a foal. The baby had the same peanut butter coloured coat as Skippy, a chestnut horse he was called, with a white blaze (stripe in the middle of the face, from forehead to nose). His wings were tiny, too small to fly something as big as he was, but they'd grow. They were as frail as a bird's right now.

Usually the baby horse would be left alone with their feet still inside until he could get up himself, but Percy spotted more hooves coming out.

Percy picked the baby horse up thinking _oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods. _He wrapped the foal in the towel and dried him off. He was a bit small; baby horses were supposed to be born the size of adult Labrador Retrievers.

Reyna came over and took over, drying him off, but not breaking the umbilical cord. That had to stay there for a while. For the next five to fifteen minutes while Baby 1 rested he was getting loads of blood he needed and that cord could not snap or else Percy would freak out and the baby would be in trouble.

"It's a colt," Percy said so Skippy could hear. "He's okay."

Skippy looked up to see the colt Reyna was drying off. Blackjack wandered closer.

Percy thought the stupidest thing; _Leo's kind of winning his poll right now… _

Anyways he went back to focus. The second baby came out quicker; Percy could already see the hooves.

The flex in the hooves meant that the baby was coming back hooves first. This wasn't supposed to happen but sometimes it did and sometimes it was okay when it went like that. Percy, given the history of all four people in the stables, was sceptic.

Percy stepped up to held by pulling the feet quicker. He put his hand on the horse's quarters to check for a heartbeat (he knew the heart wasn't in the quarters, but he was a son of Poseidon, after all).

Nothing.

"No, no, no," Percy muttered.

_"What's wrong?" _Skippy asked.

_"Boss, what's going on?" _Blackjack asked.

"Percy?" Reyna said, her voice demanding info.

"Skippy, keep pushing, Blackjack leave me alone, Reyna shut up," Percy said. If his voice weren't so urgent and if he weren't helping her horse give birth, those words would have gotten Percy killed.

He had to nearly stick his arm inside and pull out the baby. Skippy was doing her best, but this wasn't working.

This foal was even smaller than the first; nearly identical to its brother except it was a filly this time (a girl for the non-horse-masters). Her wings were at awkward angles.

Also she wasn't breathing.

"Don't move, Skip," Percy said laying her down on her side. He listened for breathing, didn't find any, and started CPR.

You could do CPR on a horse, actually, and it worked even better when it was a little horse. Compressions were on the side of the chest, ventilation was from cupping your hands around the nostrils and blowing.

Blackjack was incredibly scared and Skippy didn't know what was going on but she was too exhausted to get up and see and she wasn't allowed to move. Reyna held the colt and had a hand on Skippy. Blackjack was nudging her head tenderly.

Percy felt all eyes (save Skippy) on him and the pressure was really bad. He'd saved the world twice, but if he didn't save this baby horse…

Finally started breathing on its own. Percy yelled in victory. Reyna let out a breath that Percy hadn't realised she was holding, Skippy finally got up and looked over her shoulder and Blackjack had a party inside his head.

Percy was kind of exhausted, but he figured that everyone was. He dried up the filly.

"This one's a girl," he told Skippy. "She looks okay now, but I don't know."

Eventually it was safe to cut the umbilical cords, after which Percy took off his gloves, stuffed everything that should be thrown away or was super bloody in a garbage bag and made Reyna take it out on account that she was not a doctor.

"They're great," Percy said. "Really, they're super nice and overall awesome for surviving that."

Skippy got to her feet immediately and nudged the two babies. The colt got up shakily and nursed, probably starving after just being given birth to.

_"This is always going to feel awkward, isn't it?" _Skippy asked.

The filly was too shaky to stand, but Percy helped her up.

When she sat back down, Blackjack sat next to Skippy and the twins nestled between them. Percy smiled.

Reyna came back in.

"Leo's outside with Grace, and he's crushed," Reyna said.

"How come?" Percy asked.

"Piper won the baby horse poll," Reyna said. "He insists that she will not let him live it down."

The filly was tiny and Percy could tell her ribcage was too soft. Her breathing was off, but for tonight she'd be okay. He'd raid the internet the next day and figure out what to do next.

"You did good, Jackson." She said.

"I guess I did, didn't I?"

"Also I found Annabeth waiting with Jason outside, so I also solved your little fight," she said.

"Which one?" Percy asked.

"The one about university," Reyna said. "I told her you were taking up vet school."

Percy was about to protest. Then he wasn't sure he wanted to protest.

"We'll see," he said.

Really, he was just upset that _Reyna _had been the one to solve his career path dilemma.

* * *

The twins had fallen asleep between both of them. They were warm little bundles; Blackjack had Trill snuggled up against him, the bigger one. His _son. _Gods damn it, he had a son!

"They're so tiny," Skippy said.

"Sure are," Blackjack said. He nudged her nose. "You're amazing. I love you."

"I love you too," Skippy said. "Do you think Percy's right about the lung problems? And the soft ribcage? And the..?"

He interrupted her with a nudge to the ear.

"I think Percy was right when he said they were wonderful and great," Blackjack said. "They're your foals after all."

* * *

"Anybody do anything interesting during the holidays?" Mr Hayes said, writing down the date on the chalkboard. He went through everyone in the class and got to Percy.

_How do I put 'demigod training' lightly? _He thought which his question was every time these questions popped up.

"My horse's girlfriend had twins on New Year's Eve," he said.

"Your horse has a girlfriend?" Percy's buddy Noah said.

"Yeah, man. My horse is better off than you are."

People laughed.

"That's cool. You watched?" Mr Hayes said.

"Umm, I kind-of… well, my friends say that I was the midwife."

People laughed.

"Twins, you said?" Mr Hayes asked. "That's odd for a horse."

"Yeah, usually it doesn't work out. It did for them. The younger one's got some lung problems, but she'll grow out of it. And they were tiny." Percy said.

"What are their names?" Jessie who sat next to him.

"Umm, Amaryllis and Trillium," Percy said. "Amaryllis is the younger one; we've been calling her Amy or Lis a lot. Trill- sorry, Trillium's the older one, the guy. They're both named after plants because, like, 'Cookie' and 'Buddy' didn't work."

"Well that's nice," Mr Hayes said. "What about you, Tom?"

Jessie leaned across to Percy as Tom and Mr Hayes argued that he had done more than lie down on the couch these holidays.

"Do you have a picture?" She whispered. Percy reached for his agenda and pulled out a picture. Blackjack, Skippy, Amaryllis and Trill in a pasture at Camp Jupiter with the seven half-bloods and Reyna in the picture, as well as the fingertip of Leo's fingertip which he _couldn't keep off any lens ever. _Percy saw their wings immediately, but on camera they were invisible to mortals (thank you Paul for testing that theory while his mom cooed).

"They're so cute!" Jessie gawked.

"They're awesome," Percy agreed. "They think I'm their grandpa."

Jessie giggled.

"Blackjack's my horse," he said pointing to said Pegasus. "And that's my cousin, this guy's, girlfriend who owns Skippy, the mare."

Jessie was so in love, she asked to keep the picture.

* * *

**Epilogue**

Percy was finishing his first year into his bachelor's degree in animal biology when Sunshine was born three years later. He'd just gotten accepted into vet school when Parmenio, the first black colt, came around. After that, that was it. No more foals, colts or fillies (so Skippy insisted).

Blackjack and Skippy never had twins again, which was all the best for Percy.

Amy and Trill were confused by these weak-winged, tiny, snotty creatures that their parents randomly brought home at first. Percy swore on the Styx that they weren't any better and that they were even snottier. The twins didn't believe him. Someone (Reyna) had told them not to trust (definitely Reyna) Grandpa Jackson- which was fine, because Percy had told them not to trust Grandma Jones.

A year later when Parmenio was born, they broke down and believed him.

(Fun fact; Parmenio was the best soldier of Alexander the Great. This was what happened when Reyna got to name foals)

He was in the pasture with the twins and Sunshine while Skippy and Blackjack were either cleaning up after muster or at Camp Half-Blood, Parmenio still so young that he followed Skippy around. It was an extra test for the legionnaires. He was at the age where his wings grew faster than his body which made him look a) very cute and b) like Dumbo.

Percy was riding Trillium, who Reyna had been training for camp duties for a year now- Pegasi were heftier than horses, so although he was only four years old and unable to fly that great, he was strong enough for a rider. His sister was the opposite. She wasn't strong, she never had been, but she was a flying ace and sometime soon she'd fly a rider. This was a frequent subject of argument amongst the twins, and it did not help that now Sunshine would burst in and go _can I get a rider?_

Hazel came through the field, riding Arion, followed by a stallion with speckled grey fur.

"Hey," she said. "Went to Berkeley?"

"Yup," she said.

"Who's he?" Percy asked nodding towards the horse, which proceeded to transform into Frank.

"Oh, gods," Percy said under his breath. Hazel laughed.

"See you at dinner," Hazel said.

_Hazel do you have sugar cubes? Grandpa, ask Hazel if she has sugar cubes. _Trillium asked.

_Please? _Amaryllis begged.

_Can you, grandpa? _Sunshine begged.

"No," Percy said. "I will not. Your mother doesn't like when you get sugar cubes."

_But you gave us some this morning, _Amy said.

"Exactly why I can't risk it again," Percy said. "Grandma Jones would have my head." Hazel and Frank were already gone anyways, having a race between Hazel and Arion and a panther with slick black fur.

He heard a whistle and looked at the fence. Annabeth was there. He gave Trill his cue and they wandered over.

"Hey you," Percy said as Trillium lined up with the fence. Annabeth leaned over and he kissed her.

"It's time for supper," she said. "I'm surprised you missed the gongs."

"You can't hear anything from out here," Percy said. "We're too far."

_Can you ask Grandma Jackson if she has sugar cubes?_ _Please, Grandpa?_

_Please?_

_Can you? _Sunshine asked.

"For the last time, no. It'll spoil your teeth and rot your wings." Percy said. Mostly because Annabeth was there. Telepathically he said; _After supper if you guys get back to the stables really quickly right now. _

He dismounted Trill and they galloped away, fast as coursing peanut-butter rivers. He and Annabeth walked after them, their fingertips touching and cut away from one another every time a post came up.

"They really love you," Annabeth said.

"Of course," Percy said. "I'm Grandpa Jackson."

"Do they still call me Grandma Jackson, or did you get them to stop after all?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh- they stopped ages ago," he lied.

Because he was Grandpa Jackson.


End file.
